Fighting in Yemen has driven thousands from their homes, including residents of the Al-Farsi camp for displaced people in Ras Imran, southwest Aden, on September 17, 2026 [Mohamad Hakim/AFP]
More than 112,000 people have been displaced within Yemen over the past two weeks as renewed fighting spreads along the country’s western coast, while nearly 3,000 others have escaped by sea to Djibouti, the United Nations migration agency said Friday.
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Iran-aligned Houthi forces have intensified attacks on Saudi cities and energy facilities while pushing south along Yemen’s Red Sea coast toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital international shipping passage. In response, Saudi and Yemeni aircraft have carried out strikes against Houthi positions.
Nearly 3,000 people have made the crossing from Yemen to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, in under a week, as worsening violence drives more families to leave, Sandrine Desamours, the UN refugee agency’s representative, told reporters in Geneva by video from Djibouti.
Djibouti’s government is preparing to receive as many as 10,000 refugees, a potential influx that would place further strain on the country’s health care and education systems, she said.
The UN International Organization for Migration said the displaced were arriving aboard overcrowded vessels with little food or water. Most are Yemeni families looking for safety in Djibouti, although the IOM has also recorded a small but growing number of migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, traveling in the same direction.
Authorities in North Western State of Somalia and Puntland State have likewise reported more arrivals from Yemen, including Yemeni refugees and Somali refugees returning home. The numbers, however, remain in the hundreds for now, UNHCR said.
UN agencies said the latest escalation amounts to one crisis layered onto many others. Yemen’s health system and economy have been devastated by a protracted civil war pitting the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government against the Houthis, creating one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.
The Houthi gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast are strengthening Tehran’s position in its confrontation with the US, as the group expands its control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strategic chokepoint carries global oil and commodities shipments, more than six months after US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Vincent Mumo Nzilani Editing by Linda Pasquini and Toby Chopra
